QAZAQ GREEN. Paris will incorporate EU climate targets in its upcoming environmental and energy planning laws, Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher’s entourage said this week, playing down delays in submitting France’s updated National Energy and Climate Plan to Brussels,Euractiv reports.

In the past four years, the EU has set itself the goal of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030 and achieving a renewable energy share of 42.5% by the same date while reducing energy consumption by 11.7%.

These objectives must now be reflected into national legislation, and France is preparing to update its energy and climate programming law to this effect.

A proposal to revise the French law was originally scheduled for the summer but was later postponed to the autumn as seven consultative groups bringing together political, economic and civil society organisations were tasked to make recommendations to the government.

Those working groups presented their early recommendations to Pannier-Runacher on Tuesday (12 September). And their first conclusion is clear: France must electrify its energy mix while reducing energy consumption.

To this end, the report envisages a 25-30% reduction in energy consumption by 2030, twice the target set in the latest National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) submitted to the European Commission in 2021.

Meanwhile, renewable electricity and heat consumption are set to rise by 30% and 60% respectively by 2022, the figures show.

To achieve these objectives, the recommendations state a few priorities: energy sufficiency, energy efficiency, developing nuclear and renewable energy, maintaining thermal backup capacity, and promoting innovation and decentralised decision-making.